[Aysedasi]

Some (particularly the Brits) will recognise the quote....

I've been reading around after this year's race, on here, other forums and social media generally. I've read a number of comments - on FB especially - regarding people having their Le Mans 'ruined' by the huge crowd and I thought I'd just check out the views of people here.

We knew in advance that this year would be 'busy', what with the centenary and the prospect of manufacturers returning to Le Mans. If we doubted how busy it would be then the sometimes frantic quest for tickets that I witnessed elsewhere was pretty good evidence of a likely full house. IIRC the ACO have quoted 325,000 as their official attendance figure (over the week, I presume). In past years, even the much 'leaner' years, they have regularly quoted 225-250k, so how much difference did an extra 75-100k make (to you)?

I ask because I was surprised by some of the things I've read. For me in all honesty, it didn't feel that much busier - other than the queues for shops and eateries and the traffic, particularly around Arnage village (at any time). Yet my trips in to the circuit and my car park were a breeze. Our drives out to Arnage and Mulsanne Corner on Wednesday and Thursday were really easy once we realised that we needed to follow the signed diversions.

I accept that my group was protected to an extent by the fact that we had really good grandstand seats which we spent more time in than we usually would so we didn't need to rub shoulders with the crowds trying to find somewhere to watch from but I don't really recall any time when I would say we were badly inconvenienced by the crowds. As I've said already elsewhere, it seemed to me that this year the people who had the best time were perhaps a little more savvy when making decisions about what to do and where to go (and when) and those who tried to stick rigidly to their time-honoured game plans maybe came unstuck?

So, what was your take on the 'busiest' Le Mans for years?